Heroic Flight Attendant Does Her Job, Police Are Fine With It

It seems that August, 2010 has been the month for the unsung flight attendant’s moment in the sun. Steven Slater‘s infamous slide away from his job with Jet Blue and into notoriety started the ball rolling and we’ve got nearly a story a day now, whether there’s actually a story there or not. In this case, we have the bane of every traveler, a crying baby, allegations of abuse, and flight attendant Beverly McCurley, who may have just been doing her job:

According to a report from Albuquerque police, the parents, Lee Ann and Joseph Cid, were arguing on the flight, trying to get their 13-month-old daughter to stop crying, when the flight attendant, Beverly McCurley, intervened.

“She informed me several passengers had reported that a female subject traveling with a baby and her husband had been observed striking the child on the face in an attempt to get the child to stop crying,” wrote the reporting officer.

McCurley told the police that the child’s mother, Lee Ann Cid, struck the baby. McCurley also said the baby had a black eye, but the Cids blamed that on a relative’s pet. Either way, McCurley took the fussy baby to the rear of the plane and eventually the child’s father came back to where she was. No altercation ensued; the father stood there with the baby, presumably under McCurley’s watchful eye, until the little girl was asleep.

Albuquerque police took a basically hands-off view of the incident. Southwest’s rep sounded peevish when discussing the event with ABC News: “The family on board was having an altercation and their young child was upset. Our flight attendant offered to the parent — offered to hold the child on board. Our attendants do that from time to time just to soothe the crying babies because they are used to walking up and down the aisles.”

Sadly, for Beverly McCurley, there’s probably not much in the way of reality TV fodder in an attendant simply and kindly doing what he or she is paid to do.